Access to this full-text is provided by Wiley.
Content available from Brain and Behavior
This content is subject to copyright. Terms and conditions apply.
Brain and Behavior. 2021;11:e02145.
|
1 of 7
https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.2145
wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/brb3
1 | INTRODUCTION
In the field of physical culture, it is well known what the physical de-
terminants of success in sport are. They are determined by somatic
predispositions, as well as motor, technical, and tactical preparation.
Somatic predispositions are mainly genetically determined and are
verified at the stage of sports selec tion, while physical preparation is
determined by the specificity of the trained sports discipline. These
physical conditions are achieved through well- organized sport s
training. It might seem that this is a recipe for success. But despite
somatic predispositions and physical conditions, most athletes
cannot achieve championship. There are many training masters but
only a few champions. Therefore, it is assumed that the psyche is
behind the success of a physically well- prepared competitor. Hence,
the psychological determinants of success in spor t have become the
interest of sports psychologists. Just as the physical determinants
of success in sport are divided into four components, the mental
determinants of eudaimonia in competition can include personality
factors, temperamental factors, agitation control, self- confidence,
mental resilience, concentration, relaxation, and others. But the
greatest importance is given to personality (Allen et al., 2013; Allen
& Laborde, 2014; Kang et al., 2016; Piepiora, 2020).
Received:14Februar y2021
|
Revised:23March2021
|
Accepted:24March2021
DOI: 10.1002/brb3.2145
ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Personality profile of individual sports champions
Paweł Piepiora
This is an op en access article under t he terms of the Creat ive Commons Attributio n License, which permits use, dist ribution and reproduc tion in any medium,
provide d the orig inal work is proper ly cited .
© 2021 The Authors. Brain and Behavior published by W iley Periodicals LLC
Depar tment of S port s Didac tics, Faculty of
Physica l Education and Sp orts, Univer sity
SchoolofPhysicalEducationinWrocł aw,
Wrocław,Poland
Correspondence
PawełPie piora,FacultyofPhysical
Education and Sp orts, Depar tment of Sport s
Didactics, University School of Physical
EducationinWrocław,I.J.Paderewskiego
35street,P-2room247,51- 612Wrocław,
Poland.
Email: pawel.piepiora@awf.wroc.pl
Funding information
University School of Physical Education in
Wrocław
Abstract
Background: Research on personality in sport is popular because it allows you to
forecast the greediness of actions in sports competition situations. The purpose
of this paper is to determine which personality traits characterize individual sports
champions.
Materials and Methods: The subjects of the research were Polish athletes (N = 600)
between 20 and 29 years of age from 20 individual sports disciplines (each n = 30).
Then, a sample of champions (n = 56) and other individual disciplines athletes
(n = 544) was selected from the study population. The Big Five model was used to
examine their personality (NEO- FFI).
Results: Individual sports champions were characterized by a lower level of neuroti-
cism, a higher level of extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness in relation
to other athletes.
Conclusion: Each sports discipline is characterized by slightly different psychological
requirements for athletes. The undertaken sports activity shapes the personality,
and the shaped personality traits have an impact on taking solutions in the starting
situation. The level of intensity of neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, and con-
scientiousness may determine the result in competition in individual sports.
KEYWORDS
behavioral psychology, championship, NEO— five- factor inventory, personality, psychology,
sport psychology
2 of 7
|
PIEPIORA
The general profile of athletes in terms of the Big Five five-
factorpersonalitymodel(McCrae&Costa,2003)islowneuroticism,
high extroversion and conscientiousness, and average openness to
experience and agreeableness (Fuller, 2011; Mirzaei et al., 2013;
Paunonen, 2003; Piedmont et al., 1999; Piepiora & Kaśków,
2019; Piepiora et al., 2018; Shrivastaval et al., 2010; Watson &
Pulford, 2004). On the other hand, it is ex tremely difficult to dis-
tinguish and define the most favorable t ype of personality, as it is
largely influenced by the trained spor ts discipline and personality
conditions of the athletes depend on it. In sports theory (Piepiora
et al., 2020), three sports groups are distinguished: individual sports,
team spor ts, and combat sports. The aim of this paper is to define
which personality traits characterize individual sports champions.
Generally, the personality dimensions that significantly differentiate
the sports level of players in individual disciplines include neuroti-
cism, extraversion, and openness to experience (Allen et al., 2011).
However, recent studies of personalit y in spor t have shown a lack
of clarity. Against the background of the abovementioned person-
ality traits, Piepiora and Witkowski (2020b) demonstrated low neu-
roticism as the main mental factor distinguishing sports champions
from the rest of the players, allowing for effective actions in difficult
situations, whereas Allen et al., (2021) in their review, attributed
this significance to extraversion. In their opinion, it is extraversion
that significantly differentiates sports groups. In addition, highly
extroverted athletes employ more adaptive action strategies, have
stronger coach– player relationships, and tend to be more successful.
Therefore, the intention of this study was to define personalit y de-
terminants of success in individual sports.
2 | MATERIAL AND METHOD
2.1 | Research group
The research was carried out between October 1, 2015, and
September 30, 2019. The subjects of the research were athletes
(N = 600) from 20 individual disciplines, selected on purpose, non-
randomly, from the Polish population of athletes. The basic crite-
ria for selection were as follows: the voluntary will to participate in
the study, the respondents had to be of senior age (between the
ages of 20 and 29), and they had to have at least the second sports
class. The remaining selection criteria were many years of spor ts ex-
perience, professional spor ts experience— three years and more, a
current competition license, impeccable opinion of the coach, and
documented sports achievements at various levels of competition
(national, continental, world). The subjects were divided into equal
samples (each n = 30) according to the trained sports discipline,
and the following descriptive abbreviations were adopted: moun-
taineering, orienteering, biathlon, fitness, equestrian, canoeing,
cycling, bodybuilding, athletics— long running, athletics— short runs,
archery, alpine skiing, swimming, tobogganing, snowboarding, sport
shooting, break dance, ballroom dancing, tennis, and spor t climbing.
Then, among all the surveyed competitors, athletes with significant
international spor ts achievements were selected and qualified to the
sample of champions (n = 56). The criterion for selecting nonrandom,
purposeful respondents to the sample of champions was dictated by
the recorded success (first, second, or third place) at international
competitions in a given sport s disciplines. This group includes me-
dalists of the World Championship, European Championship, World
Cup, European Cup, World Games 2017, and other prestigious in-
ternational ranking tournaments. In the sample of champions, the
following competitors were ranked: mountaineering (1), orienteering
(3), biathlon (4), fitness (4), equestrian (1), canoeing (2), cycling (2),
bodybuilding (4), athletics— long runs (8), athletics— short runs (2),
archery (5), alpine skiing (3), swimming (3), tobogganing (3), snow-
board (3), sport shooting (1), break dance (2), ballroom dancing (2),
and spor t climbing (3).
2.2 | Method
A five- factor personality model, known as the Big Five, was used
to examine the athletes’ personality. A five- factor personality
model is made up of five measuring scales. They are marked with
abbreviations derived from the names of the factors: neuroticism,
extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and consci-
entiousness. Neuroticism is a dimension that reflects emotional
adjustment in relation to emotional imbalance, that is, emotionality
in terms of negative emotions. Neuroticism means being prone to
experiencing negative emotions such as fear, confusion, dissatisfac-
tion, anger, guilt, and sensitivit y to psychological stress. In turn, ex-
traversion is a dimension that characterizes the quality and quantity
of social interactions as well as the level of activity, energy, and the
ability to feel positive emotions. Extroverted people are therefore
friendly and talkative and willing to play and seek stimulation. They
show optimism in life and a cheerful mood. Introverted people, on
the other hand, are characterized by a lack of extrover t behavior
rather than the complete opposite. Therefore, they show reser ve in
social cont acts rather than hostility, lack of optimism, which does
not necessarily mean pessimism or a lack of happiness, and a prefer-
ence for being alone and shyness, which does not stand for social
anxiety. Openness to experience is a dimension that describes an in-
dividual's tendency to seek and positively evaluate life experiences,
tolerance toward novelty, and cognitive curiosity. People with high
openness are interested in the phenomena of both the external and
internal world and have a richer life in terms of the number of ex-
periences. People with low openness are conventional in their be-
havior and conservative in views. And agreeableness is a dimension
that describes a positive or negative attitude toward other people,
an interpersonal orientation manifested in altruism in relation to
antagonisms experienced in feelings, thoughts, and actions. At the
cognitive level, this trait manifests it self as either trusting others or
a lack of trust; on an emotional level— as sensitivity or indifference
to other people's affairs; and on the behavioral level— as a coopera-
tive attitude as opposed to a competitive one. Finally, conscientious-
ness is a dimension that characterizes the degree of organization,
|
3 of 7
PIEPIOR A
persistence, and motivation of an individual in goal- oriented activi-
ties and describes a person's relationship to work.
The NEO— Five- Factor Inventory (NEO- FFI) tool was used to
conduct the research due to the positioning of NEO- FFI in the theo-
retical and methodological model compared with other approaches
developed within the five- factor model of personality; good psycho-
metric characteristics; rich factual documentation of the measure-
ment accuracy for the original version factors, which allows us to
assume that the inventor y may be useful in scientific and practical
research; and acceptable timespan for the athletes to work with the
questionnaire.
The NEO- FFI questionnair e consists of 60 se lf- r eport sta tements,
the truthfulness of which in relation to themselves was assessed by
the respondents on a five- point scale: 1— “definitely not”, 2— “rather
not”, 3— “I have no opinion”, 4— “rather yes”, and 5— “definitely yes”.
The NEO- FFI questionnaire has sten norms for 5 age- groups (15– 19,
20– 29, 30– 39, 40– 49, 50– 80), developed separately for women and
men on the basis of large population samples. In addition, it is in-
ternally compatible. Its relevance was demonstrated on the basis of
research on the relationship between the questionnaire results and
the assessments of respondents made by observers, the heritability
of the measured traits, and their correlation with other dimensions
of personality and temperament. Factor validity was also verified.
The results allow for a full description of the respondents’ personali-
ties in terms of the Big Five and for forecasting their adaptation pos-
sibilitiestotheprofessionalenvironment(Costa&McCrae,20 07).
Statist ical analy ses were per formed us ing IBM SPSS St atistic s,
version 25. A series of one- way analyses of variance were per-
formed. For some measurements, Welch's correction for heteroge-
neity of variance was used. Parameters were estimated using the
bootstrapping method with sampling set at 5,000 and 95% confi-
dence intervals. When the assumption of homogeneity of variance
was broken, Games– Howell test s were used in post hoc analyses.
And if the assumption of homogeneity of variance was met , Tukey's
tests were used. Additionally, due to the multiple comparisons made
within each sport category, it was decided to adopt the Bonferroni
correction for the significance level. In each sports category, 5 one-
way analyses of variance were performed, and the level of statistical
significance for the analyses of variance was calculated as α = .01.
Then, the differences bet ween athletes with significant sports
successes (hereinafter referred to as “champions”) and other individ-
ual sportsmen were examined. For this purpose, a series of Student's
t tests for independent samples were performed using a bootstrap-
ping method set at 10,000 samples and a 95% confidence interval.
In each sports group, 5 Student's t tests were performed, and the
new level of statistical significance for the analyses of variance was
calculated as α = .01.
2.3 | Procedure
Each tested athlete agreed to participate in the research after
getting acquainted with the information on its objectives and
principles, expected ef fects, and possible benefits for the study
participants. The respondents also familiarized themselves with
the risk associated with undergoing the study, indicating the mode
and the possibility of withdrawing from participation in the study
atanystage. Moreover,the respondentswere informedthatthey
could ask questions and obtain answers to them. All respondents
consented to the processing of data related to their participation in
the research by the person conducting the research. The tests were
carried out in rooms insulated from noise. The respondents had
an hour to respond to the statements of the NEO- FFI personality
questionnaire. The research was carried out in groups of up to 30
people. After the research work was completed, the participants’
data were coded.
All procedures carried out in the human trials were in accor-
dance with the ethical standards of the institution and the national
research commission and the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its sub-
sequent amendments. The project received a positive opinion (num-
ber 20/2019) from the Senate Commit tee on Ethic s of Scientific
Resear chatth eUn ive rsitySchoo lofPhysicalEduc ationinWrocław.
3 | RESULTS
The results of analyses of individual sports groups showed statisti-
cally significant differences bet ween sports disciplines for all per-
sonality traits. The strongest effect was obser ved for neuroticism,
where the group differences accounted for approximately 29% of
the variance in this trait. The second- largest effect was obser ved
in openness to experience— around 16% of the explained variabil-
ity. The remaining effects ranged from 8% to 11% of the explained
variance.
The lowest levels of neuroticism were observed in sports climb-
ers, mountaineers, and tobogganers, respectively. The differences
between these groups were not statistically significant. On the
other hand, the athletes of the three abovementioned disciplines
had a significantly lower level of neuroticism than other athletes.
Additionally, alpine skiers and swimmers had significantly lower
levels of neuroticism than equestrian, sport shooting, and ballroom
dancing athletes. In addition, sport shooters had significantly lower
neuroticism than cyclists.
The post hoc result s in the extraversion dimension showed
that swimmers had significantly lower levels of extraversion than
climbers, alpine skiers, short- distance runners, and tobogganers.
Mountaineersadditionallyshowedasignificantlyhigherlevelofex-
traversion than sport shooters and break dance dancers. In addition,
break dance dancers also recorded a lower level of extroversion in
relation to canoeists and alpine skiers. In turn, alpine skiers showed a
significantly higher level of ex traversion than sport shooters.
The highe st openness to exp erience was chara cteristic for moun-
taineers, and it was significantly higher than orienteering runners,
biathletes, riders, canoeists, cyclists, bodybuilders, long- distance
runners, archers, alpine skiers, swimmers, tobogganers, ballroom
dancers, and break dance dancers. On the other hand, break dance
4 of 7
|
PIEPIORA
dancers were characterized by the lowest level of openness to ex-
perience, which was significantly different from the level of athletes
of all disciplines except biathletes, riders, and swimmers. Swimmers
also had a lower marker of openness to experience than alpine ski-
ers, short- distance runners, archers, tobogganers, snowboarders,
sport shooters, ballroom dancers, tennis players, and sport climbers.
In the case of agreeableness, the lowest level was recorded by
break dance dancers. In addition, it was statistically significantly
lower than the level of agreeableness of athletes of all disciplines ex-
cept biathletes, archers, swimmers, and spor t shooters. Additionally,
swimmers had a significantly lower level of agreeableness than
sports climbers and snowboarders.
In the post hoc conscientiousness analysis, only one statistically
significant difference was found, which showed that mountaineers
had a significantly higher level of conscientiousness than break
dance dancers. The exact values of the parameters of the carried
out analyses of variance are included in Table 1, and the whole is
illustrated in Figure 1.
Then, the results showed significant differences between the
individual sports champions and other athletes in neuroticism, ex-
traversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. A very strong
effect was obser ved for neuroticism, a moderate effec t for con-
scientiousness, and a weak effect (0.3 < d < 0.5) for extraversion
and agreeableness. Similar to the above results, individual sports
champions were characterized by a lower level of neuroticism, a
higher level of extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness
than the rest of the athletes. Detailed results of the performed
tests are presented in Table 2 and illustrated in Figure 2.
TABLE 1 Analysis of differences between the discussed sports disciplines for respective personality traits— one- way analysis of variance
Disciplines
Personality traits
Neuroticism Extraversion
Openness to
experience Agreeableness Conscientiousness
MSD MSD MSD MSD MSD
Mountaineering
(n = 30)
7.4 0 1.35 33.03 3.64 31.37 3.55 2 9.30 5 .69 3 7.50 4.10
Orienteering (n = 30) 16.10 6.06 30.20 7.3 0 24 .60 5.20 27. 9 0 5.28 34.33 6.16
Biathlon (n = 30) 17. 3 3 6.77 28.20 8.72 23.73 5.11 24.73 7. 8 6 30.90 10.21
Fitness (n = 30) 16.07 7. 4 3 2 9.6 7 6.59 26.97 7. 4 8 29. 6 0 7. 2 0 36.07 6.77
Equestrian (n = 30) 18.00 3.69 31.60 5.20 23 .93 6.79 2 7.97 3.98 33.03 5.06
Canoeing (n = 30) 15.87 4.82 32.97 5.71 25.53 5.44 31.67 5 .74 3 4.67 6.30
Cycling (n = 30) 17.03 4.57 32. 27 6.62 25.20 6.14 28.70 6. 57 34.27 6.49
Bodybuilding (n = 30) 18.40 9. 0 2 32.17 6.53 25.67 5.13 29.67 6.14 35.77 5.28
Athletics— long running
(n = 30)
14.30 7. 3 5 29. 8 3 5.90 25.37 6.80 28.83 6.57 38.00 5.44
Athletics— short runs
(n = 30)
15.97 6.56 3 3.87 5.67 26.73 6.64 2 9.1 0 6.55 33.77 7. 6 8
Archer y (n = 30) 16.73 7. 0 5 28.67 6.55 26.80 5.09 25.83 6.70 34 .10 5.44
Alpine skiing (n = 30) 12.70 4.48 34.17 5.50 26.3 0 5.73 29.4 3 6.48 3 7. 3 3 6.66
Swimming (n = 30) 12.90 2.64 28. 47 3.55 21.37 4.11 24 .63 3 .93 35.13 4.73
Tobogganing (n = 30) 9. 3 3 3.42 3 3.17 5.58 25.97 4.23 2 9.67 6.14 36.07 5.02
Snowboarding (n = 30) 14.90 5.01 29. 6 0 6.86 26.97 6.45 30.00 6.27 31.6 0 7.7 6
Sport shooting (n = 30) 18.57 4.88 28.50 5.49 2 7. 2 0 5.05 26.93 6.07 33.83 4.71
Break dance (n = 30) 14.93 2.86 28.17 2.77 19. 63 4.33 23.10 2 .41 33 .73 2.73
Ballroom dancing
(n = 30)
19.00 6.32 30.80 7. 14 26 .13 4.99 28.63 4.80 32. 20 6. 61
Ten nis (n = 30) 14.7 7 5.05 31.20 5.14 28.03 5.26 2 9.0 0 7. 0 2 34.67 6.10
Sport climbing (n = 30) 6.50 2.84 31.23 6.48 27.1 3 5.79 29.4 0 5.49 3 4.10 7. 4 8
F41.35a 4.88a 9.57a 8 .24 a 2.85a
df 19; 211 .35 19; 213.3 7 19; 213.59 19; 213.22 19; 2 13. 36
p<.001 <.0 01 <.001 <.0 01 <.001
η20.29 0.10 0.16 0.11 0.08
aCorrection for heterogeneity of variance.
|
5 of 7
PIEPIOR A
4 | DISCUSSION
The obtained results showed that there are differences in the in-
tensity of individual personality traits between the individual sports
disciplines. There were statistically significant differences between
sport s disciplines in all personality traits included in the Big Five
model. This indicates the existence of dif ferences in the personality
of athletes depending on the trained sports discipline. The obtained
data show that sport influences the shaping of the personality of the
assessed athletes, and it is confirmed by reports of other authors.
One should take into account the dif ferences between athletes
due to the tr ained sport s discipline (Chiri vella & Martinez ,1994;
Clingman &Hiliard, 1987;Kajtnaet al., 2004;McEwanetal.,2019;
McGill et a l., 1986; Piepior a et al., 2018; Tok, 2013). Spor ts act iv-
ity shapes the personality, and the formed personality traits have
an impact on taking solutions in the starting situation. It should be
associated with the specificity of spor ts competition and slightly dif-
ferent psychological requirements that sports disciplines impose on
competitors. Therefore, there were significant differences among
individual sports athletes in all five personality factors. In individual
sport s, unlike in combat sports and team spor ts, there is no direct
contact with the opponent. The pressure from the opponent oc-
curs indirectly (Piepiora, 2019; Piepiora & Witkowski, 2018, 2020a,
2020b). The measure of individual athletes’ performance, depend-
ing on the specificity of the discipline, is time, distance, height, etc.
Hence, the supposition that the differences in all personality traits
FIGURE 1 Pictured personality
profiles of athletes of individual sports
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Neurocism Extraversion Openness to
experience
Agreeableness Conscienousness
MountaineeringOrienteering Biathlon
Fitness Equestrian Canoeing
Cycling BodybuildingAthlecs – long running
Athlecs – short runs Archery Alpine skiing
Swimming TobogganingSnowboarding
Sport shoong Break dance Ballroom dancing
Tennis Sport climbing
Variables
Athletes
(n = 544)
Champions
(n = 56)
t p
Cohen's
dM SD MSD
Neuroticisma 15.72 6.01 6.29 2.39 22.96 <.001 1.63
Extraversion 30.65 6.11 33.21 6.73 −2. 96 .008 0.42
Openness to
experience
25.55 5.92 27.54 6.04 −2.3 9 .020 0.34
Agreeableness 27. 94 6.20 30.73 6.03 −3.21 .0 01 0.45
Conscientiousness 34.24 6.37 37.5 7 5.9 0 −3.75 <.0 01 0.53
aCorrection for heterogeneity of variance.
TABLE 2 Analysis of differences
between champions and other athletes
in the intensity of individual personality
traits— Student's t tests
FIGURE 2 Pictured personality profiles of champions and other
athletes of individual sports
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Athletes
Champions
6 of 7
|
PIEPIORA
were revealed primarily in the divergent thinking and creativity of
individualathletes(Costa&McCrae,2007).
In addition, the results showed that individual sports cham-
pions had lower levels of neuroticism, higher levels of extrover-
sion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness than the rest of the
athletes. The general profile of athletes in terms of the Big Five
is low neuroticism, high extraversion, and conscientiousness,
as well as average openness to experience and agreeableness.
From the obtained data, one could observe that individual sports
champions were not only distinguished from the rest of the ath-
letes by ope nness to exper ience (Angh el et al., 200 9; McKelvie
et al., 2003). These results are confirmed by research in the field
of sport s psychology (Binboga et al., 2012; Fuller, 2011; Ilyasi &
Salehia n, 2011; Kim et al., 2018; Lit winiuk et al., 2019; Mir zaei
et al., 2013; Piedmont et al., 1999; Piepiora & Petecka, 2020;
Piepiora & Witkowski, 2020a; Piepiora et al., 2018; Schutte
et al., 2003; Shrivastaval et al., 2010) and indicate that the inten-
sity level of an athlete's personality traits can be a predictor of a
sport s score. Therefore, personality traits should be used as pre-
dictors of sport s performance. On this basis, it can be presumed
that the level of intensity of neuroticism, extraversion, agreeable-
ness, and conscientiousness may determine success in individual
sport s. On the other hand, the level of openness to experience, as
in the case of comparisons of sports, depends on the specificity of
the trained sport.
The obtained research results partially confirmed the findings
of Allen et al., (2011) that the personality determinants of success
in individual spor ts are low neuroticism, high ex traversion, and high
openness to experiences. Namely, the significance of low neurot-
icism was confirmed, which was also demonstrated by Piepiora
and Witkowski (2020b); the significance of high extraversion was
confirmed, as also stated by Allen et al., (2021); the impor tance of
high openness to experience was however negated, and finally, the
dimensions of high agreeableness and high conscientiousness were
demonstrated.
Here, the strengths and limitations of the research should be
equally indicated. The research sample was homogeneous in terms
of ethnicit y, gender, and the age range of 20– 29 years. Athletes of
other nationalities, women, and other age- groups were not included.
The research was conducted on a large group of respondents from
individual sports disciplines that are popular in Poland. However, it
was not possible to examine the players from all of the individual
sports disciplines trained in Poland. The variables were distributed
in equal samples. The group of champions included Polish winners of
individual sports disciplines with international successes. Therefore,
the obtained research results can only be applied to a specific popu-
lation of athletes. The author of his research results does not ques-
tion the current research results, but only supplements the existing
knowledge about personality in sport in the twenty- first century.
The obtained research results suggest that the five- factor model
of personality may help to distinguish the mental levels of spor t
involvement and may help to identify tactical actions in individual
sports.
As there is no prior knowledge about the personality of the sur-
veyed athletes from the earlier periods of their sports careers, there
is no basis for concluding how many years of sport s training had an
impact on possible modifications of this important human property.
Moreover, it is not k nown to what exte nt the specifi city of train ed
sport s disciplines and coaching could have had a decisive influence on
shaping the personality of athletes, apart from the influence of the
coach and other entities from the players’ closest social environment.
Therefore, further research should take into account social and cul-
tural factors.
5 | CONCLUSIONS
There are differences in the personalities of athletes depending on
the trained individual sports discipline. Each sports discipline is char-
acterized by slightly different psychological requirements for ath-
letes. The undertaken sports activit y shapes the personality. And
the shaped personality traits have an impact on solutions taken in
the starting situation.
Individual sports champions are not only distinguished from
other athletes by their openness to experience. Therefore, the level
of intensity of neuroticism, extroversion, agreeableness, and consci-
entiousness may determine the result in individual sports competi-
tion. And the intensity level of openness to experiences, as in the
case of comparisons of sports, depends on the specificity of spor ts
competition.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
None declared.
PEER REVIEW
The peer review history for this article is available at https://publo
ns.com/publo n/10.1002/brb3.2145.
DATA AVAIL ABI LIT Y S TATEM ENT
The data that support the findings of this study are available on re-
quest from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly avail-
able due to privacy or ethical restrictions.
ORCID
Paweł Piepiora https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6525-3936
REFERENCES
Allen, M.S.,Greenlees,I., &Jones,M.V.(2011).An investigation ofthe
five fac tor model of pe rsonalit y and coping behav iour in spor t. Journal
of Sport s Science s, 29(8), 841– 850. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640
414.2011.565064
Allen, M . S., Gre enlees, I., & Jones, M. (2013). Personality in sport:
A comprehensive review. International Review of Sport and
Exercise Psychology, 6, 184 – 208. https://doi.org /10.10 80/17509
84X.2013.769614
Allen, M . S., & Laborde, S.(2014).The role of personality in sport and
physical activity. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 23, 460–
465. https://doi.org/10.1177/09637 21414 550705
|
7 of 7
PIEPIOR A
Allen,M.S.,Mison,E.A.,Robson,D.A .,&Laborde,S.(2021).Extr aversion
in sport: A scoping review. International Review of Sport and Exercise
Psychology.
Anghel, A., Banica, I., & Ionescu, S. (20 09). Personalit y features of elite
athletes considering the criterion of the spor t prac ticed. Sport
Science Review, 1, 5– 6.
Binboga, E., Guven, S., Catikkas, F., Bayazit, O., & Tok, S. (2012).
Psychophysiological responses to competition and the Big Five per-
sonality traits. Journal of Human Kinetics, 33, 187– 194. https://doi.
org /10. 2478/v 1007 8- 012- 00 57- x
Chirivella, E. C., & Martinez, L . M. (1994). The sensation of risk
and motivational tendencies in spor ts: An empiric al study.
Personality and Individual Differences, 16, 777– 786. https://doi.
org /10.1016/0191- 8 869(94) 90219 - 4
Clingman,J.M.,&Hiliard,D.V.(1987).Someper sonalitycharacteristic s
of the super adherer: Following those who go beyond f itness. Journal
of Sport Behaviour, 10, 1 2 3 – 13 6 .
Costa,P.Jr,&McCrae,R .(2007).Personality Inventory NEO- FFI. Warsaw:
PracowniaTestówPsychologicznych.
Fuller, J. (2011). Martial art s and psychologic al health: Psychology and
Psychotherapy. British Journal of Medicine and Psychology, 61(4), 317–
328. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044- 8341.1988.tb027 94.x
Ilyasi, G., &Salehian, M.H .(2011).Comparisonof personalitytraitsbe-
tween individual and team athletes. Middle East Journal of Scientific
Research, 9(4 ) , 527– 530 .
Ka jt na,T.,Tus ak ,M .,Bar ić ,R. ,& Bu rnik, S. (2 0 04). Pe rso na li t yi nh ig h- r is k
sports athletes. Kinesiology, 36(1), 24 – 34 .
Kang, C ., Bennett, G., & Peachey, J. W. (2016). Five dimensions of brand
personality traits in sport. Sport Management Review, 19(4), 441– 453.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smr.2016.01.004
Kim, J., Gardant, D., Bosselut, G., & Eys, M. (2018). Athletepersonality
characteristics and informal role occupancy in interdependent sport
teams. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 39, 193– 203. https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.psych sport.2018.07.011
Litwiniuk, A ., Grants, J., Kravalis,I., & Obmiński, Z. (2019).Personality
traits of athletes practicing eastern martial arts. Archives of B udo, 15,
195 – 201 .
McCrae,R.,& Costa,P.Jr(2003).Personality in Adulthood: A Five- Factor
theory perspective. Guilford Press.
McEwan,D.,Boudreau,P.,Curran,T.,&Rhodes,R.E.(2019).Personalit y
traits of high- risk sport participants: A meta- analysis. Journal
of Research in Personality, 79, 83– 93. h ttps://doi. org /10.1016/j.
jrp.2019.02.006
McGill,J.C ., Hall, J. R ., Ratliff,W.R., &Moss, R.F. (1986).Personality
characteristics of professional rodeo cowboys. Journal of Sport
Behaviour, 9, 1 4 3 – 151 .
McKelvie , S. J., Lemi eux, P., & Stout, D. (20 03). Ex travers ion and neu-
roticism in contact athletes, no contact athletes and non- athletes: A
research note. Journal of Sport Psychology, 5(3), 19– 27.
Mirza ei, A., Nik bakhsh, R ., & Sharif ifar, F.(20 13). The relatio nship be-
tween personality traits and sport performance. European Journal of
Experimental Biology, 3(3), 439– 442.
Paunon en, S. V. (2003). Bi g Five facto rs of persona lity and re plicated
predic tions of behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
84, 411– 424. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022- 3514.84.2.411
Piedmont, R. L ., Hill, D., & Blanco, S. (1999). Predicting athletic perfor-
mance using the five f actor model of personality. Personality and
Individual Differences, 27, 769– 777. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0191
- 8869(98)00280 - 3
Piepiora, P. (2019). Behaviors of Professional Athlete s in Terms of The
BigFiveModel Due totheType ofContactof the Spor tDiscipline.
In: Proceedings of the 14th International R AIS Conference on Social
Sciences and Humanities at Princeton (pp. 138- 145). August 19- 20,
2019. USA. Princeton, NJ: Research Association for Interdisciplinary
Studies (RAIS).
Piepiora, P. (2020). A review of p ersonality research in sport . Pedagogy
and Psychology of Sport, 6(4), 64– 83. https://doi.org/10.12775/
PPS.2020.06.04.007
Piepiora,P.,&Kaśków,K. (2019).Personalit yprofileof PolishVolleyball
players – a case study of player s at various sports levels. Quality in
Sport, 5(2), 47– 57. ht tps://doi. org/10.12775/ Q S. 2019.011
Piepiora,P.,Maśliński, J.,Gumienna,R., &Cynarski,W. J.(2020). Spor t
technique as a determinant of athletes’ personality. Quality in Sport,
6(1), 33– 43. https://doi.org/10.12775/ QS.2020.004
Piepior a, P. , & Petecka, A. (20 20). Personalit y profile of women p ractising
contact sports with karate kyokushin competitors and handball play-
ers as an example. Ido Movement for Culture: Journal of Martial Arts
Anthropology, 20(1) , 23– 29.
Piepiora, P., & Witkowski, K . (2018). Personality traits of competitive
athletes according to type of pressure exerted on opponents. South
African J ournal for Resear ch in Sport, Physic al Education and Re creation,
40(1 ) , 9 7– 109.
Piepior a, P., & Witkowsk i, K. (2020a). Per sonality pr ofile of combat spo rts
champions against neo- gladiators. Archives of Budo, 16, 2 81– 2 93.
Piepiora, P., & Witkowski, K. (2020b). Self- defence as a utilitarian factor in
combat sports, modifying the personality of athletes at a champion level.
Archives of Budo: Science of Martial Art and Extreme Sport, 16, 71– 77.
Piepiora,P.,Witkowski,K.,& Piepiora,Z.(2018).Personalit yprofiles of
karate masters practising different kumite sty les. Archives of Budo,
14, 23 1– 241.
Schutte, N. S., Malouff, J. M., Segrera, E., Wolf, A., & Rodgers, L.
(2003). States reflecting the Big Five dimensions. Personality and
Individual Differences, 34, 591– 60 3. http s://doi.org/10.1016/S 0191
- 8869(02)00031 - 4
Shrivastaval, P., Gopal, R., & Singh, Y. (2010). A Study of Personality
Dimensions in Sports Performance. Journal of Exercise Science and
Physiotherapy, 1, 39– 42.
Tok, S. (2013). The Big Five personality traits and risky sport par tici-
pation. Social Behaviour and Personality an International Journal, 39,
1105– 1012.
Watson, A . E., & Pulford, B. D. (2004). Personality differences in high risk
sports amateurs and instructors. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 99, 83–
94.https://doi.or g/10.2466/PMS .99.5.83-94
How to cite this article: Piepiora P. Personality profile of
individual sports champions. Brain Behav. 2021;11:e02145.
https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.2145
Brain and Behavior. 2021;11:e02145.
|
1 of 7
https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.2145
wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/brb3
Received:14Februar y2021
|
Revised:23March2021
|
Accepted:24March2021
DOI: 10.1002/brb3.2145
ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Personality profile of individual sports champions
Paweł Piepiora
This is an op en access article under t he terms of the Creat ive Commons Attributio n License, which permits use, dist ribution and reproduc tion in any medium,
provide d the orig inal work is proper ly cited .
© 2021 The Authors. Brain and Behavior published by W iley Periodicals LLC
Depar tment of S port s Didac tics, Faculty of
Physica l Education and Sp orts, Univer sity
SchoolofPhysicalEducationinWrocł aw,
Wrocław,Poland
Correspondence
PawełPie piora,FacultyofPhysical
Education and Sp orts, Depar tment of Sport s
Didactics, University School of Physical
EducationinWrocław,I.J.Paderewskiego
35street,P-2room247,51- 612Wrocław,
Poland.
Email: pawel.piepiora@awf.wroc.pl
Funding information
University School of Physical Education in
Wrocław
Graphical Abstract
The contents of this page will be used as part of the graphical abstract of html only.
It will not be published as part of main article.
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Athletes
Champions
The purpose of this paper is to determine which personality traits characterize in-
dividual sports champions. Sports activity shapes the personality, and the shaped
personality traits have an impact on taking solutions in the starting situation. The
level of intensity of neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness
may determine the result in competition in individual sports.
Content uploaded by Paweł Adam Piepiora
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Paweł Adam Piepiora on Jan 12, 2022
Content may be subject to copyright.
